Refuse disposal and general truck bed



June 12, 1956 Dow 2,750,056

REFUSE DISPOSAL AND GENERAL TRUCK BED Filed April 5, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

RAY ALLEN DOW ATTORNEY June 12, 1956 R. A. DOW 2,750,056

REFUSE DISPOSAL AND GENERAL TRUCK BED Filed April 5, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. RAY ALLEN DOW ATTORNEY United States Patent REFUSE DISPOSAL AND GENERAL TRUCK BED Ray Allen Dow, Fairview, Okla.

Application April 5, 1954, Serial No. 420,797

4 Claims. (Cl. 214-504) This invention relates to loading. In a more specific aspect, this invention relates to self-loading mechanism for vehicles. In a still more specific aspect, this invention relates to self-loading and unloading means for wheeled vehicles which are particularly desirably used to pick up and haul for disposal such materials as trash, garbage and other waste.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 354,691, filed May 13, 1953, and now abandoned.

Self-loading apparatus is known in the prior art, such being used in conjunction with wheeled vehicles which are propelled in any suitable manner. And, there are wheeled vehicles which have mechanism incorporated therewith for raising and dumping material such as garbage and trash into a body supported and carried by such wheeled vehicle, some of the bodies being of the tiltable type to dump out upon tilting material within the body. Many of these prior art vehicles have separate loading and unloading mechanisms, such being complicated, costly, and difiicult and expensive to maintain. In addition, none of the prior art assemblies have easy and economical means to assure distribution of the material dumped into the body so that the entire space of the body is used in conveying material. This is important, since a relatively large proportion of operating time in a trash or garbage hauling operation is used in going to and from points of pick up and point of disposal. All of the available loading capacity of the garbage or trash truck must be used for eflicient operation, and of course, it is desirable to have an easy and simple method and means of distributing and packing the trash or garbage in the body of the truck.

I have invented loading mechanism for a body which comprises bucket means pivotally mounted on the body. Gate means is hingedly mounted on said body to prevent material therein from falling thereout, and these gate means serve a second purpose, that is, they swing from closed or gate position inwardly into the body to pack and crush material therein and to push such material forward during loading operation in which the bucket is raised upwardly to dump material therein into the body. The new loading apparatus of my invention has lever means attached to the bucket and gate means. These lever means are adapted upon movement in one direction to raise the bucket to a position to dump the material therein into the body and to swing the gate means into gate or closed position for the body, and upon movement in the other direction the lever means are adapted to lower the bucket for receiving another load and to swing the gate into the body for packing and crushing the material dumped therein and to push same forward. In a preferred specific embodiment of the new means of my invention, I incorporate same with a body tiltably mounted on a vehicle, and with common means to tilt the body and to operate the lever means. The body is tilted to dump material therefrom upon disposal operation, and the gate means of my invention in this speto an operator.

ice

cific embodiment is removably hinged so that they may swing free from closed position to allow material to be dumped from the body. I have incorporated new lockable linking means in a preferred embodiment of the lever means of my invention, such linking the body tilting means and lever means so that when the linking means is locked, operating means such as a hydraulic motor can be used to tilt the body, and when unlocked the same hydraulic motor means can be used to operate the loading apparatus.

The new loading apparatus of my invention and the new self-loading and unloading vehicle of my invention is very advantageous. It is simple of construction, easy and eflicient to operate, and economical and easy to maintain. l have found the new apparatus of my invention to be particularly desirable when used to haul trash and garbage, one man being able to eificiently handle a trash and gargabe route with my self-loading and unloading vehicle. Both the tilting means and loading means of my invention can be operated with a single double-acting hydraulic motor, and the controls for same and the latch means for locking the linking means of my invention can conveniently be mounted for easy access I have constructed and used a truck mounting the new self-loading and unloading apparatus of my invention, and I have found it to be very satisfactory.

It is an object of this invention to provide new loading mechanism for a body.

It is another object of this invention to provide new self-loading apparatus for wheeled vehicles having a body to hold material which is particularly desirably used for operations such as trash and/or garbage hauling.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a new selt-loading and unloading wheeled vehicle having a tiltably mounted body which is particularly desirably used in operations such as trash and/or garbage hauling, and the like.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide new self-loading mechanism for wheeled vehicles having a body which packs and distributes material dumped into said body by my loading mechanism.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide new cooperating means to self-load a wheeled vehicle having a tiltably mounted body and to self-dump material from such body.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure.

Drawings accompany and are a part of this disclosure. Such drawings depict preferred specific embodiments of the new means of my invention, and it is to be understood that these drawings are not to unduly limit the scope of my invention.

in the drawings, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation view partly in cross section and partly cut away of a pre erred specific embodiment of the new self-loading and unloadapparatus of my invention incorporated in and with a vehicle having a frame mounted on wheels. As depicted in Fig. 1, the self-loading apparatus of my invention is in position to dump material into the body of the vehicle, this also being the position for travel with the vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal elevation view partly in cross section of the apparatus of Fig. 1 with the self-loading apparatus in position to receive material for raising and dumping same into the body of the vehicle.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal elevation view partly in cross section of the apparatus of my invention shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 depicting such apparatus in position for dumping material from the body of the vehicle.

Fig. 4 is a View from the bottom of the apparatus of my invention in the position of Fig. 3, such Fig. 4 view showing the plan view of the tilting means for the body of the vehicle and the self-loading lever, gate and bucket means. The truck wheels, rear axle and springs are not shown in this figure.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal cross section view of the linking means of my invention adapted to use one motor moving means to tilt the body of the vehicle of my invention to empty same and to operate the lever means of my invention and in turn the self-loading mechanism of my invention to fill the body of the vehicle.

Fig. 6 is a view taken on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a view taken on line 77 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal view of preferred adjustable connecting means of the lever means of my invention employed to adjustably connect the self-loading apparatus to the means preferably used to operate same and incorporate such means with the self-loading apparatus of my invention.

Following is a discussion and description of the new self-loading and unloading means of my invention. Such discussion and description is made with reference to the drawings whereon the same reference numerals are used to indicate the same parts and structure. It is to be understood that such discussion and description is not to unduly limit the scope of my invention.

The vehicle having the self-loading and unloading apparatus of my invention, as depicted by the figures of the drawings, has a frame 10 mounted on two rear wheels 12 (one of which is shown). A body 14 which is open at its rear end and in the rear portion of its top is tiltably mounted on frame 10 by pivot means 16 consisting of a member attached to each of longitudinal bottom body frame members 18 and a corresponding bracket member attached to each side of frame 10 at the rear end thereof, such attached members beings connected by pin means therethrough.

A hollow cylindrically shaped guide 20 is rigidly mounted in any suitable manner on the underneath side of body 14 between longitudinal frame members 18. Guide means 20 has a slot 22 in its top and a slot 24 throughout its length on its lower side. A cylindrically shaped linking member 26 is mounted for reciprocation in guide means 20. Linking member 26 has a notch 28 in its top side, such notch preferably having an abrupt forward edge and a sloping rear portion as shown.

A double-acting hydraulic motor 38 having a piston rod 32 is pivotally attached to a transverse member 34 of frame 10 in its head end, and the outer end of piston rod 32 is pivotally attached to the forward end of linking member 26 by pin 36, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Reciprocating linking member 26 is moved back and forth in guide means 20 by retracting and extending piston rod 32 of motor 30.

A latch or ratchet 33 is fixed to a rod 40 and moves upon turning rod 40 by handles 42 which are fixed to the outer ends of rod 40. Latch 38 is mounted above slot 22 in guide means 20, and falls down through slot 22 into notch 28 in linking member 26 to prevent movement of member 26 upon exerting force thereon by extending piston rod 32 of motor 30. This results in tilting body 14 on pivot means 16 so that the force of gravity can be utilized to dump material in body 14 therefrom. When ratchet or latch means 38 is in raised position, linking member 26 freely moves back and forth in guide means 20, and body 14 is not tilted in the manner aforesaid. A usual four-way valve 42 having operating handle 44 is conveniently mounted on frame 10 and is the control valve for operating motor 30 to extend or retract rod 32 of same. Hydraulic fiuid hoses 46 supply hydraulic fluid to motor 30 as regulated by valve 42, and hoses 48 supply hydraulic fiuid to valve 42 from a usual truck supply source (not shown).

The rear end of linking member 26 pivotally mounts an adjustable connecting rod 50 by a pin 52 through the yoke end of linking member 26 in a manner like the mounting means shown in Fig. 6. The adjustability of rod 50 is best shown in Fig. 8. Central plates 54 are connected by threaded bolts 56 and secured thereon with nuts 58. This allows for shortening or lengthening rod 50 as desired. A lever arm 60 is pivotally secured on one end to the outer end of rod 50, and such lever member 69 is secured in its other end to a rod 62 so that rod 62 is turned upon movement of lever member 60. Bearing means 64 in which rod 62 turns are conveniently secured to the rear end of longitudinal frame members 18 of said body. Lever members 66 are secured to the outer ends of rod 62 to turn with same, and lever arms 68 pivotally connect between the outer ends of members 66 and boom members 78. A bucket 72 is rigidly secured to the outer end portions of boom members 70, and the inner end portions have hinging means 74 thereon which are adapted to be removably hinged to hinging means 76 mounted on the rear end of body 14. Removable pin means 78 through tubular hinges has been found convenient to accomplish this. Hinge means 74 also hingedly mounts gate member 80 to the inner ends of boom members so that the gate can swing inwardly and outwardly. Tubular hinge members 82 in the middle portion of gate and middle portion of the rear edge of the bed of body 14 likewise receive rod 78 therethrough when the bucket 72 and gate 80 are pivotally mounted on body 14 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A rod 84 is fixedly attached to connecting rod 50 and pivotally mounts on its outer ends, lever arms 86 which pass through holes 88 in the bed of body 14, the outer ends of lever members 86 are removably hinged to gate member 80 with eye members 90 mounted on gate 80. A removable rod passing through the outer ends of arms 86 and eye members 90 has been found very satisfactory. Lever arms 86 are pivotally connected to gate 80 during loading operation, and are disconnected from gate 80 during operation to tilt body 14 to dump material therefrom. Pivoted latch means 92 operated by pivoting arm member 94 and pin member 96 on body 14 is used to hookedly secure bucket 72, gate 80 and lever means associated therewith during dumping operation of the apparatus as shown in Fig. 3, or in traveling position shown in Fig. 1. Bucket 72 has a spring loaded lid 98 which is normally held in closed position over a portion of the bucket by spiral spring 100. Lid 98 is a tripable lid having an arm 102 extending therefrom which during loading operation is caught by gate member 80 to open the lid. The lid 98 is shown in tripped position in Fig. 1, and in closed position in Fig. 2. Pin means 164 fits through a hole in member 102 and gate 80 to hold gate 80 in the position shown in Fig. 3 during unloading operation of the apparatus.

The apparatus of my invention can be made of any suitable material, metals being preferred, and most of the individual parts can be made of standard stock size metal materials. I prefer and have found it desirable that the bucket means, gate means, lever means, linking member and guide assembly, and supporting structure for same be made of metal, since in operations such as trash and/or garbage hauling, the apparatus is operated a great many times as the operator goes from house to house. Metals which wear well have been found desirable.

Through use, parts of the apparatus have not been found to get out of adjustment more than would normally be expected. However, my apparatus is provided for easy adjustment. Connecting rod 50 is made adjustable as to length as discussed hereinbefore and shown in Fig. 8 in detail, and lever members 86 are preferably made with a series of holes in their inner ends (as shown) so that they can be adjustably mounted as to length on the ends of rod 84.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the apparatus of my invention in position for dumping material from bucket 72 into body 14, and in position for receiving material in bucket 72, respectively. Material such as trash and/or garbage is passed into bucket 72 in the position shown in Fig. 2. Handle 44 of four-way valve means 42 is pushed in a direction to supply hydraulic fluid to motor 30 to extend piston rod 32, and thus move linking member 26 rearwardly. Latch 38 is maintained in raised position so that linking member 26 can slide free in guide 20. Connecting rod 50 moves rearwardly along with link 26, pushing lever member 60 which turns rod 62, which in turn moves lever member 66 upwardly. Through the connection of lever member 68 between members 66 and 70, bucket 72 is raised about pivot rod 78. Simultaneously lever member 86 pushes gate 80 to which it is pivotally secured outwardly to gate or closed position, covering the lower portion of the rear end of body 14. Boom members 70 and bucket members 72 move upwardly and forwardly, and gate 80 catches arm 102 which is attached to lid 98 of bucket 72, as the gate passes under the bucket. The trash and/or garbage then falls by gravity from bucket 72 into body 14 when in the position of Fig. 1.

To lower the bucket 72 for another load, handle 44 is moved in the opposite direction, and piston rod 32 is retracted. This moves link 26 back to the position shown in Fig. 2, with gate 80 and bucket 72 assuming their Fig. 2 positions. In doing so, gate 80 swings forwardly into body 14 crushing and packing and pushing forward material which has been .dumped into body 14. Arm 102 is released from in contact with gate 80, and lid 98 assumes its closed position as shown in Fig. 2. The bucket 72 is then refilled and raised to dumping position in the manner described hereinbefore.

After body 14 is full of trash and/or garbage, latch means 92 is secured over pin 96 by moving arm 94. The apparatus is then in position for hauling the trash and/ or garbage to point of disposal. The hauling position is that shown in Fig. 1 with latch means 92 closed. At point of disposal, rod 78 is removed from hinge means 74, '76, and 82, thus releasing boom members 70 and gate 80 so that they can swing free of body 14, and the rod means pivotally securing arms 86 to gate 80 through eyes 90 is removed, thus releasing members 86, and pin 104 is passed through lid trip 102 and gate 80 to hold same. Latch means 92 is secured over pin 96 of body 14 so that bucket 72 and gate 80 are swingedly supported. Linking member 26 is then moved forward by retracting piston rod 32 to a point where latch 38 will fall into notch 28 in link 26 to prevent movement of the link upon extension of piston rod 32. Then, upon extending piston rod 32 body 14 will be tilted to the position of Fig. 3 with gate 80 swing outwardly and the trash and/or garbage will pass from body 14 by force of gravity.

To get the apparatus into loading position again, piston rod 32 is retracted, latch 38 is raised, piston rod 32 is extended, pin 104 is removed, arms 86 are reconnected to gate 80, red 78 is replaced through hinge means 74, 76 and 82, and latch means 92 is released from pin 96. Upon retraction of piston rod 32, bucket 72 will lower to the position of Fig. 2 for receiving trash and/or garbage.

As one skilled in the art can see, the new apparatus of my invention is completely self-loading and unloading, with means incorporated therewith for distribution of trash and/ or garbage throughout body 14. The apparatus has proven foolproof in use, and is very easy and economical to maintain. One motor means 30 furnishes the power for performing all of the functions of the apparatus.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art, various modifications of my invention can be made, or followed, in the light of this disclosure and discussion, without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure or from the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A vehicle having self-loading and dumping apparatus comprising, in combination: a frame mounted on wheels; a body tiltably mounted on said frame from a point in the rear end portion thereof and open in its rear end portion; a bucket supported on each side thereof by booms which are pivotally and removably secured to opposite sides of said body in the rear end portion thereof, said bucket having tripable lid means over a forward end portion thereof and said bucket adapted to convey and dump material therein upwardly and forwardly from ground'level into the upper portion of the rear portion of said body; a gate member pivotally secured to said bucket booms and removably hinged to said body in the lower rear end portion thereof, said gate member having an enlarged upper end portion and adapted to move forward into said body upon lowering said bucket to crush material dumped into said body from said bucket and to move said material forward in said body, adapted to move rearwardly into a gate position upon raising said bucket to dump material into said body and to trip said lid means to open the forward end portion of said bucket, and adapted to swing outwardly to open the lower rear end portion of said body when same is tilted to dump material therefrom; a link member having a notch therein reciprocably mounted in guide means secured to the underneath side of said body; motor means attached to said link member in one end portion thereof to reciprocate same; lever means attached to said link member in the other end portion thereof and to said bucket boom members and gate member, said lever means adapted to lower and raise said bucket and to swing said gate forward and backward, respectively, upon reciprocation of said link member; ratchet means mounted on said body adapted to fit into said notch of said link member to prevent movement of same in said guide means to result in tilting said body upon exerting moving force on link by said motor means; and latch means on said bucket and the upper rear end portion of said body adapted to secure said bucket to said body when in raised position.

2. Self-loading and dumping apparatus for a vehicle having a body open in its rear end portion and tiltably mounted on a frame, which comprises, in combination: a bucket having tripable lid means and supported by boom means which is pivotally secured to said body in its rear portion thereof; a gate member pivotally secured to said boom means and removably hinged to said body in its rear portion thereof, said gate when removed from hinged mounting on said body being adapted to swing outwardly therefrom; linking means reciprocably mounted on said body; motor means attached to and adapted to reciprocate said linking means; lever means attached to said linking means, said boom means and said gate member, said lever means adapted upon movement of said linking means in one direction to raise said bucket to dump material therein into said body and to swing said gate member into closed position with said gate member disposed in a position to trip said lid means, and said lever means adapted upon movement of said linking means in the opposite direction to lower said bucket and swing said gate member into said body to crush and push material therein forward; means to lock said linking means against movement; and said body adapted to be tilted upon locking said linking means and exerting force thereon by said motor means to move same.

3. Self-loading and dumping apparatus for a vehicle having a body tiltably mounted, which comprises, in combination, bucket means having lid means and pivotally mounted on said body, gate means hingedly and removably rnounted on said body and adapted to swing therefrom when removed, lever means mounted on said vehicle attached to said bucket and gate means, said lever means adapted upon movement in one direction to' raise said bucket to position to dump material therein into said body, to swing said gate into closed position and to trip said lid means, and said lever means adapted upon movement in the other direction to lower said bucket and move said gate member into said body to contact material therein; movable linking means attached to said lever means; motor means attached to said linking means adapted to move same and in turn said lever means; means to lock said linking means against movement; and said body being tiltable upon locking said linking means and exerting force thereon with said motor means.

4. Self-loading and dumping apparatus for a vehicle having a body tiltably mounted, which comprises, in combination, bucket means pivotally mounted on said body, gate means hingedly and removably mounted on said body and adapted to swing therefrom when removed, lever means mounted on said vehicle attached to said bucket and gate means, said lever means adapted upon movement in one direction to raise said bucket to position to dump material therein into said body and to swing said gate into closed position, and said lever means adapted upon movement in the other direction to lower said bucket means and move said gate member into said body to contact material therein; movable linking means attached to said lever means, motor means attached to said linking means adapted to move same and in turn said lever means,

means to lock said linking means against movement, and said body being tiltable upon locking said linking means and exerting force thereon with said motor means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

